ZOMBIE BEES

THEYRE REAL, AND THEYRE HERE

The Phorid y lays its eggs into the abdomen of the bee. The larvae stay small while traveling through the abdomen.

Created by Taylor Morgan

Who would ever have thought we would see the day that zombies would walk the Earth (or y in this case)? Recently, bees in western United States are being infected by the A. Borealis Phorid y also know as the zombie y. This causes the bees to go into a delirious state and then leave the hive in groups during the night.

Interview with Dr. John Hafernik

Dr. John Hafernik is a Professor of Biology at San Francisco State University and Trustee and President of California Academy of Sciences. He discovered zombie bees and started their research.
When the bees are being hosted, is it possible for them to sting people or animals? If so, what types of side e ects could potentially occur? As long as they are alive, infected honey bees can still sting and should be handled with care. Infected bees are no more aggressive than healthy bees and will not attack people or animals unless provoked. The e ects of a sting are no di erent than that of a healthy bee. The Zombie Fly itself only parasitizes insects and does not lay eggs on or in humans. As far as we know it does not transmit any diseases that are contractible by humans. I understand that the inhabited bees are attracted to light. What attracts them to light? Are they more attracted to light than normal (uninhabited) bees? Most ying insects that are active at night orient towards light. Their attraction to nearby to lights is is probably the result of confusion with a more distant light source like the sun or moon which they would use as a navigational reference point. The parasite may be causing the bees circadian rhythm genes to turn on at the wrong time making the bee active at night. Once active they would orient to light. The Phorid Fly, Apocephalus borealis, is native to North America and has been known to host other insects. With that being said, why do you suppose that there has been so many bees being a ected by the Phorid y only recently? It is possible that the y has undergone recent behavioral or genetic changes that have resulted in a recent host shift to honey bees A new host might lack the defenses that have evolved in native hosts that have had a longterm evolutionary association with the parasite and be more severely a ected. On the other hand, parasitism may have been going ever since the honey bee was brought to North American from Europe. Because it is not obvious that a honey bee is infected by the parasite and infected honey bees often leave their hives to die, beekeepers and bee researchers may have overlooked its presence in honey bee colonies. Beekeepers we have worked with were unaware that their hives were infected until we sampled bees their hives.
Sources : Dr. John Hafernik, the Zombee Watch Website, Piotr Jaworski via Wikimedia Commons, Plos One Website.

The Adult Phorid Fly rst lays its eggs into the abdomen of the bee and the larvae move to the thorax where they eat the bees tissues and grow.

A range from 4 to 12 can be found eating the bees ight muscles at once in this area.

Larvae emerge from between the thorax and the head of the bee.
The larvae eat the bees muscle tissues and grow to maturity.

As many as 15 larvae can emerge from one bee.

Adult Phorid Flies

Some theories suggest the bee acts with disorientarion because the larvae attack its nervous system.

Phorid Fly Life Cycle

A. Borealis Pupae

Larvae inside Bee

Mature Larvae

Map

Why do you suppose there are more cases of "zombie bees" in western states than in other parts of the United States? It's possible that A. borealis has only adapted to recognizing honey bees as hosts in areas along the West Coast. If so this tendency might be spread to other areas as honey bee colonies are moved from state to state. On the other hand, parasitism of honey bees may be happening throughout the range of the y and has simply gone unnoticed. We founded the ZomBee Watch project to enlist citizen scientists in helping us discover where parasitism of honey bees is occurring across North America. - Dr. John Hafernik

Adapted from ZombeeWatch.org